Today, Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship visits the headquarters of the European Agency for the operation management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA) in Tallinn. The aim of the visit is to meet with the Executive Director of the Agency, Krum Garkov, to discuss current technologies, applied in the fields of Justice and Home Affairs under the responsibility of eu-LISA, and focus on the advancement of the interoperability of these systems. Commissioner Avramopoulos meets also the staff of eu-LISA to discuss the important role of the Agency in facilitating freedom, security and justice in Europe and contributing, with the help of technologies, to EU values.
The Executive Director of eu-LISA Krum GARKOV emphasised: "The continuously growing needs and expectations of EU and the Member States towards the efficient use of the potentials, offered by information and communication technologies, are not only a challenge but also the striving force for our Agency. They make us constantly search for innovative solutions which support us to perform the operational tasks in line with the highest standards and to detect the most effective ways for addressing any disparities in the information systems. eu-LISA is no more a new Agency, as we are already entrusted with additional tasks, which is a clear recognition to our expertise and knowledge in the area we are responsible for. Yet, we are still a young agency and the visit of Commissioner Avramopoulos today to eu-LISA is a great acknowledgement to the dedicated work that my staff performs in Tallinn, as well as in Strasbourg and Brussels."
During the one-day visit to Tallinn Commissioner Avramopoulos meets also with the President, the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior of the Estonian Republic.
Background about eu-LISA:
The European Agency, eu-LISA, was established to manage large scale information systems in the area of freedom, security and justice. It fulfils the operational management tasks for the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), Visa Information System (VIS) and Eurodac. These information systems are essential instruments for juridical and police cooperation, border management and the implementation of the migration and asylum policies of the EU. The Agency contributes to the fight against serious and organised crime in the EU and supports the management of external borders. eu-LISA is responsible for keeping all the IT systems under its control permanently functional in order to allow continuous and uninterrupted exchange of data between national authorities. eu-LISA ensures that it applies the highest levels of information security and data protection to the information entrusted to it. The seat of the Agency is in Tallinn (Estonia), the operational management is carried out in Strasbourg (France) with the business continuity technical site in Sankt Johann im Pongau (Austria). In 2015 eu-LISA carried out in close cooperation with MSs the Smart Borders Pilot testing phase to test new technologies on the EU borders and provide the decision-makers with information about the feasibility of deploying biometric identifiers at the Schengen external borders.
Links:
eu-LISA: http://www.eulisa.europa.eu
Contact:
for media requests: press@eulisa.europa.eu
for general information: info@eulisa.europa.eu
